Good Neighbor Podcast: TN-WNC-SWVA

EP# 329: After 96 Years, First Christian Church Continues to Impact Lives

• Skip Mauney & Dr. Jonathan Feathers • Episode 329

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What makes a nearly century-old church remain vibrant and relevant in today's world? Pastor Jonathan Feathers answers this question by sharing the remarkable 96-year journey of First Christian Church of Bluff City and his own 25-year ministry path that brought him back to his East Tennessee roots.

The conversation with host Skip Mauney reveals how Dr. Feathers' spiritual calling led him from Bluff City to Indiana, Long Island, and Virginia before returning home seven years ago to lead the church where he now serves. This geographical journey mirrors a deeper spiritual exploration about authentic community service and meaningful relationship-building. Through mentorship and community connections at places like Appalachian Christian Camp in Irwin, Feathers discovered his purpose in ministry – something he describes as following God's calling rather than his own plans.

When discussing recent community challenges, particularly Hurricane Helene's devastating impact, Pastor Feathers highlights how the church mobilized volunteers, resources, and prayer support for affected families. This practical response exemplifies their mission of "following Jesus and finding family" – creating spaces where spiritual growth and community belonging reinforce each other through both celebrations and struggles. The church's approach to ministry focuses on addressing immediate physical needs while also equipping people for new life stages and challenges.

For those seeking connection or support, First Christian Church holds Sunday worship at 11am (with Sunday School at 10am) and Wednesday Bible study at 6:45pm. You can learn more through their website at FCCBluffCity.com or by visiting in person. Whether you're exploring faith questions or simply looking for community, Pastor Feathers extends a warm invitation to discover how this historic church continues building meaningful relationships in the beautiful mountain region he proudly calls "God's country."

Speaker 1:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Monty.

Speaker 2:

Hello everyone and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast of the Tri-Cities. So I'm very excited today to have a very special guest in the studio with us for the first time. And I'm sure you'll be just as excited because today it is my pleasure to introduce to you your good neighbor, Dr Jonathan Feathers, who is a pastor at First Christian Church of Bluff City. Reverend, welcome to the show.

Speaker 3:

Well, thank you so much. Glad to be able to join the Good Neighbor podcast and sharing some wonderful things.

Speaker 2:

Awesome. Well, like I said, I'm very excited. I'm sure a lot of our listeners are as well excited to learn all about you and your ministry. So, if you don't mind, why don't you kick us off by telling us about your church? Sure, sure.

Speaker 3:

Yes, I've been able to be a part of the First Christian Church of Bluff City. I've been there for over seven years and our church has been in existence just shy of a hundred, and so we've been excited just to celebrate just our recent 96th kind of our anniversary homecoming on that, and so, yeah, it's been an exciting journey and a number of people have been impacted by this local church that I've been a part of, from locally in the area to places around the world, and so we've definitely been blessed to be able to make a difference Awesome.

Speaker 2:

So congratulations on the 96 years. Got the big hundred coming up Not too far off, and you've been there for seven years. That's nothing to sneeze at either. No no it's been great. Well, speaking of that, tell us about your journey. How did you end up at the Bluff City First Christian Church?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, absolutely. You know it's been an incredible journey. Never kind of expected that was going to happen, and so I had been involved in the local ministry now for over 25 years, and when my wife and I got married just when I was just out of seminary at Emmanuel Christian Seminary and that I was serving in a local church, working with students and serving with adults, and found ourselves moving to Indiana and Long Island, new York, and back to Virginia and found our way back to Northeast Tennessee where I'm originally born and raised, and were able to serve God in the church here locally, and so that's kind of brought us back to the location and our time together at the local camps.

Speaker 3:

Appalachian Christian Camp in Irwin has been able to learn a lot from a lot of people and the influence that people have in our lives and that continually makes me think a wonderful thing for this particular podcast of being a good neighbor, of how people have poured into my life and their calling and challenged me to think about what it is, what God's purpose is for me. And it's been through the journey working with a number of people that have served in the local church and are serving around the world for me to consider that same challenge and calling and found myself again going that direction and following God's calling over 25 years ago. And so it's brought me back to East Tennessee and my family and I are glad to be back here to be able to serve God in the church here in this area.

Speaker 2:

Wonderful Now. Are you originally from Bluff City?

Speaker 3:

Yes, yes, that is correct, Definitely was born here in the Tri-Cities. I was born in Johnson City but lived in Bluff City pretty much up through until I went to college and found myself going to college down in Greenville, down at Tuscaloosa University, and it was from there, during that time, when I understood more of my interest in calling into ministry that I knew I wanted to go to graduate seminary and wanted to be able to grow in those skills and abilities and continue to work with some wonderful people.

Speaker 2:

So a hometown boy done good? I hope so, absolutely, absolutely, from my viewpoint, definitely so. Pastor, could you tell us about any myths or misconceptions that you hear about your church or the church in general? Anything come to mind?

Speaker 3:

Sure, no, we definitely love to be able to serve the community. The churches that I've been a part of have ranged in various I guess you could say various sizes, and no matter what people are wrestling with the same kind of questions about what does it mean to know who God is and follow Him, and how can I also serve my community? So it comes back to some principle teachings of loving God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength and loving our neighbors, ourself, and so we continue to find ways in which we can do that, from being able to host food drives and we've been able to host people who have come in to visit it, to share their work and to be able to go out as well as to the community, to make a physical difference, being able to serve frankly serve our neighbors.

Speaker 2:

Wonderful, wonderful. Now I know you're a busy guy, you know being a leader at a church, but hopefully there's some downtime. If there is, what do you like to do for fun?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, you know when that time comes up. No, we've got a different, definitely a good leadership team and a wonderful team that likes to be able to work and to serve, and they're able to help me out and be able to provide some time to be able to have some rest that I can spend with my wife and my wonderful children, and we like to travel and spend some time together and sometimes we like just to be out in the outdoors when the time comes to be able to enjoy some reading and some of the good books that continually come out and to see how so many different people bring perspectives to what we address in this world.

Speaker 2:

Wonderful. Well, talking about outdoors, you live in a beautiful place for it. Absolutely East Tennessee, I think, is God's country, no question.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I would say that when we found ourselves moving out of state and so many times we found ourselves reflecting upon living in the Midwest and some wonderful people as well as in New England we're like you know, it's still not East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia as well as in New England, we're like you know, it's still not East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. You know, there's something about the Appalachian Mountains and the vicinity and especially coming to appreciate space and especially the wonderful things outside, because in you know, some other metropolitan urban areas there's. Again, there are wonderful things that happen there, but there's some things that you begin to appreciate as you get older in life and later in life of all that you know that we've been exposed to.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely Well. I grew up in Western North Carolina and for vacation we would typically rotate going between the beach and to the mountains and as a kid I was like why are we going to the mountains? We need to go to the beach. But then, the older I got, the more I appreciated the mountains and now I'm just an absolute. I'm a hundred percent mountain guy. You know, like the beach. My wife likes the beach, but you know I would. I would take the mountains over the beach anytime. So that's just me.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, there's definitely, definitely a balance and there's always something really in each location and places that I've been able to serve in the local church, that there's been some fascinating stories, being able to hear you know from what it was like, especially in the Midwest and the Indianapolis area, and seeing what people you know again wrestle with in a different climate and so forth, as well as New England and New York City, and just getting a whole new perspective and appreciation of how people can come together, and that gave me a strong appreciation, especially for generations and things that people find themselves wrestling with.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely Well, Pastor, can you think of a hardship or a life challenge that you or your church has faced and how you overcame it and came out stronger on the other side?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, yeah, you know, with, unfortunately, with some of the incidents that's happened over the past year, especially with Hurricane Helene, and we've had people that have known, you know, directly or close connections of how they've been impacted from this, and so we've been able to partner together and find some ways, you know, within our church, family and within the local community, of how can we meet those needs, how can we help those people.

Speaker 3:

We've had people volunteer of their time, so people that have volunteered of their resources, saying, hey, I'll come and lend a hand and being able to help. You know, help bring some repairs as well, as you know, if I can't be there, I definitely am praying for you and here's some financial support with that, and even with our church, we continue to see those that have been impacted in the community from, you know, setbacks in life, and so we definitely see that as a chance to meet them where they're at, to be able to minister to them. Sometimes it is physical, like a need for food or assistance, or maybe it's a new stage in life of where people are looking to grow and that they're looking to enter into, let's say, a new phase, and so we want to be able to equip them and help them be able to move forward want to be able to equip them and help them be able to move forward.

Speaker 2:

Awesome. So, Pastor, if you could think of one thing that you would like our listeners and viewers to remember about you and about First Christian Church, what would that be?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, thank you for asking. Now we definitely feel like it's a place where we're following Jesus and finding family, and that's something that I feel like, that as a church, that we strive to live out our faith and to each and every day by what the Bible teaches, and along the way we build new relationships and it feels like family along the way, and so that's something that I think has been incredible to be able to come alongside families and families that have come alongside us when we've had some struggles or that we needed someone to pray for us. So that's been a wonderful thing to be able to work together.

Speaker 2:

Amen, amen. So for those of us who may be unchurched or need help or support, or just need prayers, how can they learn more about what you guys do?

Speaker 3:

Sure, no, definitely. Yeah, we have. Our worship services are on Sundays. We have a Sunday school time at 10 am and our morning worship service is at 11. And we have a Wednesday Bible study at 645. But we also have a chance that you can reach us through our website at FCC plus city dot com and through that we're able to connect and if there are questions that do come up, we'll be glad to partner, because we support some local organizations to say here's how we can help you meet some of those needs that we can talk together and talk together about to be able to see what is pertinently needed at the moment.

Speaker 2:

Very good, great thing to remember. Well, pastor, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule, because I know pastors are busy and you know if you're not, if you're not at the church working on a sermon or at a service, you're at somebody's house, you're at a funeral, you're supporting somebody. So thank you for that. But we appreciate you taking time out of that schedule to tell our listeners and viewers all about First Christian Church of Bluff City and let us know a little bit more about its leadership. So we appreciate that and wish you and your congregation, your family, all the best moving forward.

Speaker 3:

Well, thank you so much, and we definitely appreciate the opportunity to share with you and to continue to build on what it means to be a good neighbor, and so thank you for letting us be a part of this Awesome.

Speaker 2:

Well, thank you for saying that, thank you for being a part of it, and maybe we can have you back sometime. I look forward to it All right. Thanks so much.

Speaker 1:

You're very welcome. Thank you for listening to the good neighbor podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnptry-citiescom. That's gnptry-citiescom, or call 423-719-5873.